Boat-propelling mechanism



(No Model.)

P. E. COLLINS.

BOAT PROPELLING MEUHANISM.

Patented Feb. 26, 1889.

N, FEYERS. Phem-Lnw m ljnirnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL E. COLLINS, OF LYNN, HASSACIIFSETTS.

BOAT-PROPELLING MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 398,703, dated February26, 1889.

Application filed April 26, 1884. Renewed August 16, 1886. Serial No.211,070. (No model.)

turn before it gets far into the waterthat To all whom it may concern..-ancy or by reason of the air-chambers, a spiral Be it known that l, PAULE. COLLINs. of spring (not shown) is placed in the box C, with Lynn, inthe county of Essex and Commonone end bearing upward against the box andwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certhe opposite end bearing downon the shaft. tain new and useful Improvements in Boat- This springneeds, of course, to beonly strong Propelling Mechanism, of which thefollowenough to overcome the buoyancy of the ing, taken in connectionwith the aceompanywheels and air-chambers. ing drawings, is aspecification. By reference to Fig. 1 it will be observed This inventionrelates to boat-propelling that the paddles 2 2 2, &c., have their tangsmechanism; and it consistsin the devices and arranged to turn insuitable bearings or combinations of devices hereinafter fully setgrooves in the plate 3, while their outer ends forth and particularlyclaimed. are connected by the band 4:. Each paddle In the accompanyindrawings, Figure l is is constructed with more area 011 one than on aperspective view of a section of a boat, a the other side of the lineintersecting its pivpaddle-wheel and its feathering-paddles, the otedpoints, and the side with the largerarea mechanism for regulatingthe'movements of being allowed to enter the water first the acthepaddles, the mechanism for propelling the tion of the water will eitecta half-turn of the wheels, and fully illustrates the general 1nanpaddle, allowing it to come out of the water nor in which the saidseveral parts are organedgewise. Paddles adapted to operate in this izedand con'ibined together. Fig. 2 is a plan manner are not new; but thecombination of of a section of the parts shown in Fig. 1, the suchpaddles with the plate 3 has not, to my section being made on line .71Figs. 3 and knowledge, ever been used prior to my inven- -lare sideviews of certain detached parts of tion thereof. The objects of such aplate are the mechanirnn made on an enlarged scale, to avoid the liftingof water incident to and and to be more fully described hereinafter.necessarily done by the arms of the ordinary The boat represented in theaccom mnying feathering-wheels. The power expended in drawings has avery narrow body, being after such manner is alwaysa pure loss,andthough the style of the ordinary 'elocipede-boat; but it amounts tolittle when the wheel is partly So the invention is applicable to otherboats and submerged, yet it amounts to much when the is not limited toany particular style. The wheel is run low down in the water, and, as itinvention will, however, be first; described as is desirable to extendthe wheel as far down combined with a boat of the peculiar style aspossible in order to secure the advantage represented in the drawings.of denser water, I prefer and lind it a gain of The body 13, as beforeremarked, is quite power to construct the wheel with central narrow, andis provided with outriggers f, plate, 23, as described. also afrantic-work, l) I), adapted to support- All feathcring-wheclsheretoforeconstructed the seat E, on which the person riding is sup are dependentupon the action of the water posed to sit. The feet of the rider are tobe to turn the paddlcsf. 6., the paddles enter 9o placed on the pedals(I u, and thereby maybe the water nearly edgewisc, the wider side ofrm'olved the Cl'l-llli-Slltlft f and the wheel Z), the blade beingahead, and the water bearing from which motion is transmitted throughagainst this causes the paddle to turn round, belt 0 and wheel (7 torevolve the wheel-shaft bringing the wider side of the paddle in the land thus propel the boat. Said wheelrear and allowing the paddles tocome out of shaft F carries a paddle-wheel on each end, the wateredgewise. It is very desirable that ,5 and the shaft has its bearings inthe outrigthe paddle should not turn before it begins O. The wheel-shaftF is also provided to lift out of the water; but the moment that oneither end with an air-tight chamber, 10- the paddle enters the water itis subjected to cated by preference just outside of the padthe actionthereof, and it not unfrequently IOO die-wheels, which, being alwaysfilled with air, happens that the paddle completes its haltprevent theboat from tipping over sidewise. 7 In order to prevent the paddle-wheelsfrom i lifting by reason of their own natural buoyis, before itcompletes its downward movement. This is more commonly the case whcueverthe wheel is made torevolve rapidly whenever it is far into the water.In this way much power is lost, as the paddle fails to take hold of thewater at the very moment when its work would be the most effective indriving the boat. To obviate this difficult-y I have provided a lockingmechanism adapted to engage and hold the paddle till it reaches thedesired point for work, and then releases the same to permit thequarter-turn, and then firmly holds it again until it passes theworking-point, and again releases it as it commences to lift water, andallows it to further turn and come out of the water edgewise.

The several parts which together compose the loekin g an d releasingmechanism are fully represented in Fig. 3 of the drawings, and themanner of combining this mechanism with the boat is clearly representedin Fig. 2. It will be observed that the arm 10 has its rear end attachedfirmly to the boat at or nearly in line with the wheel-shaft F, andextends horizontally outward till its branches 11, 12, 13, and 14 comenearly in contact with the center plate, 3, of the paddle-wheel.

It is essential that the end faces of the arms or extensions 12 13 L1should be in the same vertical plane and parallel to the plate 3, whilein the end of the lever 15 (see Figs. 1. and 3) is a sliding stud, 16.This stud bears its inner end against the incline and face of arm 11,and by an obvious operation of the lever 15 this stud 16 may be carriedtoward or away from the said plate It is necessary to have only a veryslight movement of the stud 16 in this direction, and it should beadapted to come slightly nearer to the plate 3 than the extensions 12 13H are allowed to comethat is, the distance between the stud 16 extendedand the plate 3 should be slightly less than the distance between plate3 and the end surfaces of arms 12 13 14, and a proper movement of lever15 should bring the stud back into the same plane withthe end surface ofsaid arms 12 13 14. These several extensions are intended to trip thepawl 17, which is pivoted on the wheel-plate 3 and is carried round bythe same. One of these pawls is provided for each paddle in the wheel,and on the tang or shaft of the paddle is arranged a small wheel, 18,provided on its periphery with notches, and the pawl 17, by droppinginto one of these notches, holds the wheel, and thus locks and holds thepaddle from turning farther until released by the pawl coming in contactwith some one of the extensions 11 12 13 14. Te

now suppose the whole to be revolving in thethe pawl is lifted out ofthe notchin the wheel 2 18, and the paddle is turned by the action ofthe water till the pawl 17 drops into the next notch in the wheel 18.This brings the paddle at right angles to the body of the boat and intothe proper position for work. It is desirable that the paddle shouldattain this position as quickly as possible after it reaches the pointfor effective work, and the arm 11 should be located accordingly, and tofurther hasten the operation of the paddle, as Well as to insure itsturning in the right direction, the edge of the paddle should beslightlybeveled. The paddle should remain in the position stated untilit passes to that part on the opposite side of the wheel where workcannot effectually be performed on account of the lifting of water, andat this point the pawl 1 7 will have been carried sufficiently far roundto engage with the end of the arm 12, whereby the pawl in passing isagain lifted and the paddle is allowed to make a f urther quarterturn tocome out of the water edgewise. It is now desired to bring the paddleinto position. for again entering the water, which requires a furtherhalf-turn. This halfturn is effected by means of the cam 21. To this endthe cam 21 is secured to the side of the wheel 18, as represented inFig. 3, and is in line to strike the end surface of arm 14c whenever itis carried by the wheel-plate 3 round to'that point, and at the momentthe cam 21 engages the end of the arm 1% the pawl 17 is lifted by thearm 13, thereby allowing the cam to roll in passing the end of arm 14,and thus effect a half-turn of the wheel 18, and with it of course thepaddle blade, thus bringing the paddle into position to re-enter thewater, as above described.

It will of course be understood that in some cases it might be desiredto turn the wheels without operatin g the paddlesthat is, allowing thepaddles to pass through the water edgewise. To provide for this, Iarrange the wheel 18 eccentrically in reference to the shaft of thepaddle in such manner that three of the notches in the periphery of thewheel 18 will be equidistant from the shaft of the paddle, and thedistance between the shaft of the paddle and either of these threenotches will be slightly less than the distance from said shaft to theother or fourth notch. The paddle, the wheel 18, and the pawl 17 arealso arranged relatively to each other so that when the paddle is inposition for entering the water, as above described, the pawl 17 will belocated in that notch of the wheel 18 which is farthest from thepaddle-shaft. \Vhile in this notch the rear end of the pawl lies closerdown to the plate 3 and escapes the ends of the several arms 12 13 14:,and therefore it is only neces- 'sary to move back the stud 16, (whichmay be done by a suitable movement of the lever 15,

particular notch. It then falls into the other notches, where it will belifted by the other arms, 1:2 The cam 21 carries on one end a smallwheel, Said wheel is mounted upon a curved arm, 24, as fully illustratedon an. enlarged scale in Fig. -l of the drawings. The manner ofcombining this with the cam 21 better shown in Fig. 3. The purpose ofthis wheel is, in part, to avoid the friction at the point where the camis about to leave the arm 11, and for this purpose it is allowed to turnin one direction, being prevented from turning in the opposite directionby means of the pawl and ratchet shown in Fig. 1. This wheel, wheneverthe paddle-wheel is revolved in the direction opposite to that indicatedby the arrow 20, and described above, comes first into contact with theend arm, 14, and yields downward slightly, the arm 24 being for thispurpose adapted to spring slightly downward, and in this manner thestraining and possible breaking of parts is avoided, that mightotherwise occur while the pawl 17 is coming into engagement with the arm1 to be lifted thereby, and allow the paddle to be reversed intoposition for entering the water, and the paddle in passing the arms 1211 will be operated, as before described.

I claim- 1. The con'ibination, with a boat, of the outriggers forming abearing for the shaft F, the {ntddle-wheels consisting of air-tightchanr bers and outer rings, the paddles having bearings in. the plate 3and the said ring, and means, substantially as described, for open atinsaid wheels to propel the boat, substantiall y as described.

2. The combination, with the boat, of the paddle-wheels consist-in ofair-tight chamber and ring, movable feathering-paddles between said.chamber and ring, and means, snl'istantially as described, under thecontrol of the operator adapted to engage said paddles and hold the sameduringa part revolution of the wheel, and means, as described, toautomaticallv release the same, sult stantially as set forth.

3. The combination of a wheel having movable feathering-paddles,substantially as described, the wheel 18, connected to the shaft of thepaddle and notched as described, the pawl 17, pivoted to the plate 3,one end thereof engaging with the notches of the wheel 18, and means,substant-i ally as described, adapted to engage the passage end of saidpawl intermittingly and lift the same to release the wheel 18,substantially as described.

4:. In a boat of the class described, the arm 10, connected to the boatand extending horizontally outward, having a branch, 11, and the lever 15, having the stud 1 (3, combined with the wheel 18 and pawl 17, wherebyin the revolution of the paddle'wheel the said pawl 17 holding thepaddle-blade, comes in contact with the stud 16, thereby acting upon thewheel 18 to turn the paddle, substantially as described.

5. The combination, in a boat of the class described, of the shaftcarrying the paddlewheels, the air-tight chambers having faceplate 3,and the ring 4:, of larger diameter than the plate 3 and in linetherewith, the said plate and ring forming bearings for featheringpaddle-blades having their movement between the plate 3 and ring 1,substantially as described.

(3. In a boat of the class described, having the arm 10 connectedthereto, with branch arms 12, 123, and 14-, the combination of the wheel1S, pawl 17 and cam 31, carried by the plate 23, whereby when the saidcam 21 strikes the. arm ll the said pawl 17 is lifted by the arm 1 thusallowing the cam to roll in passing the end of the arm ll and effectingthe half-turn of the paddle-blade.

7. The combination, in a boat of the class de scribed, with the arm 10,having the branch 11, of the plate 3, carrying the wheel 18, pawl 17,and cam 21, with its spring-arm 21- and wheel 22, whereby the frictionis avoided in the movement of the cam 21 over the arm 14 and strainingprevented by the action of the spring-arm 24, substantially asdescribed.

lA CL E. COLLINS.

in presence of" I). A. SANBORN, C. B. TUTTLE.

